Red hot cruiserweight prospect Simon Barclay made his professional debut on Saturday night and 48 hours later he was sharing a ring with WBO/IBF/WBA Super World Heavyweight Champion Wladimir Klitschko!

The Corby talent, a two-time and two-weight ABA Champion, is at Klitschko’s Austrian training camp to help the Ukrainian great with preparations for his title defences against Alex Leapai on April 26 in Germany.

Barclay got his professional career off to a great start with a four-round points win over tough and experienced Lithuanian Igor Borucha, who last time out took former Midlands Area Cruiserweight Champion the distance.

Now the 24-year-old is getting valuable experience against one of the greatest heavyweights of the modern era and here he explains in his own words what his day is like. Continue reading →

A native Michigander, Mayweather has a stellar amateur career as a three-time Golden Gloves Champion and a 1996 Olympic Medalist. Since turning professional, Mayweather has achieved World Champion status in five weight classes, ranging from Super Featherweight to Jr. Middleweight, and is a two-time Ring Magazine Fighter of the Year. Most notable about Mayweather’s career is the caliber of opponents faced. He has fought, and beaten, twenty world champions. His list of victims reads like a who’s-who of boxing, including Oscar De La Hoya, Zab Judah, the late great Arturo Gatti, Carlos Baldomir, Ricky Hatton, Juan Manuel Marquez, Shane Mosley, Victor Ortiz, and Saul Alvarez. Continue reading →

Dereck Chisora says rival Tyson Fury won’t stand the heat when they collide in their big heavyweight showdown on Saturday 26th July at the Phones 4 U Arena in Manchester.

Chisora meets Fury in a crucial WBO World Heavyweight Title Eliminator with his European title and the Vacant British title on the line, and today he met with the media at Fredericks restaurant in Islington, North London, before commencing his training camp for the bitter clash.

The Finchley puncher displayed his culinary skills by flambéing a rabbit, controlling some intense flames and saying that he’ll do the same to undefeated Fury who brings the same kind of fire to the ring.

I recently read an article that quoted Manny Pacquiao’s trainer, Freddie Roach, claiming that if the eagerly-awaited Mayweather-Pacquiao super-fight does happen, it could be as a career finale for both men.

During the Pacquiao-Bradley II post-fight interview with Larry Merchant of HBO Boxing, Manny stated that he thought he had two years left as a professional boxer, which means his career would come to a close around May 2016.

Intriguingly, Mayweather has three more contests remaining on his contract with Showtime beyond the Maidana bout. Assuming that Floyd remains undefeated and fights every May & September each year, his final bout under the Showtime banner would be September 2015… and a victory on that date would equal Rocky Marciano’s 49-0 professional record. Continue reading →

The 4th fight turned out to be a climatic episode of the famed rivalry and a defining moment for Juan Manuel Marquez. This was the third KO loss for Manny Pacquiao in his stellar career and normally it would mean the end of the road for a 34 years old welterweight . He has rebounded from the fiasco, rebuilt his bona fides and the dramatic turn of events has set up the stage for a 5th episode.

I’d like to focus on the knock down and KO punches thrown by Marquez in the 3rd and 6th round of the 4th fight as it was basically (but not exactly) the same shot. It appeared Marquez had adapted the punch specifically for his rival, a tailor made “Pacquiao special”. The move was designed individually for Manny Pacquiao taking into consideration his southpaw stance, fighting style, temper and usual reaction to attack. It could be argued that the KO was caused by a lucky strike, a fluke combined with lack of focus on Pacman’s part who believed (not without reason) that his opponent was finished. It has to be taken into consideration though that Marquez laboriously executed his game plan under severe stress while he was being outclassed and on the verge of being stopped by the congressman. Continue reading →

Former unified light-welterweight world champion Amir Khan is pleased to announce that he has signed a deal to work with influential boxing adviser Al Haymon.

Haymon currently works with a number of leading boxers including Floyd Mayweather, Adrien Broner, Danny Garcia and others.

Speaking on the agreement, Amir Khan said: “I am very happy to have signed with Al Haymon who has not only shown that he is a very astute businessman, but is extremely knowledgeable of the fight game and always has his fighters’ best interests at heart. I’m looking forward to building a long and successful relationship during this exciting stage of my career.”

LONDON (April 15) – BoxNation are delighted to announce another mega bill to its fantastic schedule with the addition of the stacked April 26th Golden Boy Promotions show featuring boxing’s biggest punchers in Keith Thurman, Lucas Matthysse and Omar Figueroa.

The card taking place at the StubHub Center in Carson, California is guaranteed to have fight fans on the edge of their seats with the three hitmen amassing a stunning 69 knockouts from 78 wins between them.

Headlined by rising welterweight star Thurman, who defends his interim WBA championship against the hardened Julio Diaz, who ran British ace Amir Khan very close last year, it offers the 25-year-old the chance to continue his march towards a shot at the world title. “ Continue reading →

Many boxing fans were calling for Manny “Pac Man” Pacquiao to retire since he was 35 years old and coming off two losses in his last three bouts, yet he proved a great deal of them wrong as he demonstrated that he`s still one of the best fighters in the world in defeating, top ten pound for pound boxer, Timothy “Desert Storm” Bradley, en route to a twelve round unanimous decision. His speed, power and aggressiveness was too much for Bradley, especially in the last six rounds of this matchup.

Thankfully, this time the judges correctly score the bout for Pacquiao, giving him two scorecards of 116-112 and one scorecard 118-110, as opposed to their first encounter, where the Pac Man destroyed Bradley, yet ended up on the wrong end of the one of the worst decisions boxing has seen in a long time. Continue reading →

It’s almost five years ago since Manny Pacquiao scored that brutally terrifying 2nd-round knockout over Ricky Hatton. Going into the fight in Las Vegas in May of 2009, many people were expecting Hatton to either: give Pac-Man a serious run for his money, or: actually defeat him with his advantages in size and physical strength. This line of thinking was completely blown out of the water after less than six-minutes of action, as Pacquiao scored a KO for the ages.

Still, all these years later, Hatton, now retired and secure in the knowledge that he gave his all in each and every fight of his career, thinks back to that night a half-decade ago. Could Hatton, had he prepared himself properly, with a hassle-free training camp, have beaten the southpaw dynamo? Would the peak Ricky Hatton, the fighting machine that upset the great Kostya Tszyu, have been too much for the man who turned pro as a 106-pounder all those years ago in The Philippines? Continue reading →